The Harvest: a sunny end of a rainy season

Weather seriously challenged the grapes this year. We kept faith, picked early and the 2017 harvest resulted in a nice 2.1 tonne of berries ready to be pressed into another lovely rosé.

 

Even if you have never set foot in a vineyard you can probably tell this was not the best year for grape growing in New Zealand. Torrential downpours, heavy winds and a lack of sunshine throughout the season made 2016/2017 a, erm, challenge.
 

 

Rainfall records & weather obsessions

Did you know that we’ve had the wettest March ever measured in Auckland? And that according to the local Awhitu weather station we broke the most-rain-in-one-hour record on 10 March with a massive 30.7mm of rainfall? I do, because in the Seagar household every day starts and ends with an exhaustive weather forecast. An in-depth discussion on how to tackle problems that might occur in the vineyard because of it follows. And problems there were: botrytis, bursting skins and obnoxiously slow ripening to name a few.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 

2017 Harvest: picking another epic rosé

But don’t fret, not all is lost! Last week we decided not to wait until the grapes hit the ripe-for-red mark. Just pick early and make plentiful delicious rosé. We set the date, made some calls and Vicki locked herself in the kitchen to prep for harvest lunch. And so last Sunday at 9 am about twenty cars rocked up on the driveway. The sun was happily shining to encourage all helpers, morning tea lifted the spirits to exhilarating heights, the dogs were going mental over each other and all the attention, Harry’s drone was taking great shots while doing quality control and five hours later 126 crates of shiny and sweet Merlot and Cabernet-Franc grapes filled the truck. We served lunch, poured wine poured and contently we all agreed: this is just another epic rosé in the making!

 

This year’s Superstar Team

Many thanks to our amazing 2017 Harvest Helpers: Torsten, Tash, Amanda, Katie, John, Jane, Ans, Paul, Denise, Ken, Hillary, Paul, Pam, Nigel, Antonia, Simon, Whiti, Stella, Matt, Alan, Wendy, Dave, David, Barb, Andy, John, Gary and Christin. Couldn’t have done it without you!

Photos by Harry Seagar. Check out our Instagram for more pics.